XPS 8940, adding a PCIe sound card

Question

I am having sound issues with my XPS 8940. I get a lot of popping when playing media. I have isolated the issue to the PC and have decided unless there is a fix for this, to add a PCIe sound card to the system. I can not find any information or guides on how to properly add a PCIe sound card to this system. So I need some help here. I am looking at a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy PCIe RX 7.1 card as my replacement.

JOcean · Accepted Answer

That should be fine. All you need is a PCIE x1 slot, which you have, and the drivers which are available here. The SB card has instructions and it is an extremely easy install, and the install guide is also on the same page as the drivers.

fireberd · Answer

Popping, crakling, etc is a common complaint and with all brands, not just Dell. Unfortunately there is no "one fix" for the problem. Download and run the free (and popular) Resplendence Latency mon as it usually helps in identifying the problem. A different sound card most likely have the same problems. You have to address the root cause of the problem (and its not whatever sound card).

My own troubleshooting this problem on my own desktop build for recording studio use was isolated to an NVIDIA video card. Changing to either the Intel CPU video or an AMD Radeon eliminated the problem. On a couple of Dell laptops I field tested, NVIDIA and disabling Support Assist were two problem areas.

As far as a PCIe sound card, as Dell uses proprietary front panel connections there will not be front panel headphone and mic jacks. If you want to use one, disable the onboard audio in the BIOS to avoid conflicts. Another option is to use a USB connected sound card.

Latency Mon link:Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

Tesla1856 · Answer

As @fireberd says, for casual-use the on-board audio should work fine. It is directly connected to PCIe-Bus and has plenty of resources to work properly. BTW, he is our resident-expert for audio and DAW.

Better to resolve your issue, as it will likely affect whatever sound-card, audio-device, etc you are using.

rshetts · Answer

Thanks guys!  That was the help I was looking for.

RoHe · Answer

Go to Start>Run>services.msc and press Enter. Open each 'Dell' service that's listed and change its Startup type to Disabled.  Don't change anything else in services.msc. Just reboot when done and see if that helps. If still having same audio issues, go back into services.msc and Disable all 'Killer' services listed. Then reboot and test audio again...

rshetts · Answer

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice.  I ran the Latency Mon software and it identified the onboard sound card as the problem. I tried driver updates to no avail so I decided to try an external sound card and went with the Sound Blaster X4.  It solved the problem and there is no crackling or popping while playing streaming sources any more.

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XPS 8940, adding a PCIe sound card

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